Beyond Alpha Centauri :::

[Mr. President]

. . . But You Can't Come In

The Hiverian Fringe

"Hiverians closing fast, sir!"

Franco spun towards the viewscreen. Sure enough, it showed three Hive ships with a generally cross-shaped design accelerating rapidly out of the unknown space. "Patch me the sensor readings," he ordered. "What astrometry have we got on those things?"

"Length, approximately 750 metres." Astrometry was several decks below the Command Center, so the voice was transmitted through the commlink to the command crews' earpieces. "The engine emissions are highly masked. I cannot estimate maximum speed."

"Red alert!" the commodore snapped. "Battle Group Northshire: engage the enemy. Repeat: Battle Group Northshire engage the enemy. The other groups are to adopt offensive formation Zero-Tau."

The DRS Emancipator and the four other ships of Battle Group Northshire broke from the diamond and rushed to meet the enemy. Franco stared impassively at his sensor readout, watching the group's two cruisers lead the assault.

Warning: Offensive Communications Jamming in Progress. Maintain Safe Distance From DRS Castillo and Blackburn.

The warning was necessary at this stage, as the offensive communications jamming procedure could affect friendly ships that strayed into the resonance field. As such, the Emancipator and her two frigates hung back.

The Hiverian ships slowed. This, said Franco to himself, was an encouraging sign, as it suggested they were unable to communicate with each other and hence to formulate an attack plan -

- it happened so fast the commodore almost missed it. The Hiverian ships abruptly broke formation and surged directly into the middle of Battle Group Northshire's formation, one between the two cruisers and one on each of the outer wings. At the same time, they unleashed a withering stream of impacted particles.

The cruisers never stood a chance. Huge chunks were blown off their superstructure from nose to tail. The Blackburn's main power conduit overloaded and it exploded in a silent crimson fireball. Castillo fared no better. Her hull integrity gone, Franco watched helplessly as her power readings dwindled to nothing.

All hell broke loose. Emancipator fired a barrage of torpedoes that sheared away part of the central Hiverian's underhull. It was not sufficient; the enemy's return volley struck, whether by design or luck, the destroyer's command center. Mission-killed, the ship slowly listed on its side.

Now it was three on two at the front line. As Franco ordered his flotilla forward, he wondered what other nasty surprises the Hive fleet had waiting for him . . .

[Lonestar]

Summit, Part Three.

Kelowna

The Grand Council hall was cavernous, and crammed with 3 dozen representitives and thier hangers-ons. This wasn't even a complete representation of the Assorted Faction leaders, just the ones with over a thousand capital ships. Shagrat was always awed by the sight of the chambers, but now even more so. For the first time in an age, the Grand Council of the Proginators had been called, and unity finally seemed to be in reach.

Off to the side were the Hferhin Entire Representatives (actually, they were thralls to the Usurpers), and Lord Ptah himself, in his strange body that he had genetically engineered as a host, looking much like a tall Fraal-Asgard with a smaller head. The only reason why the Go'auld were present was because their domain sat astride the routes any Proginator invasion force would take to the Orion arm.

"The Proginator Grand council is convened." The Presiding Officer said after the required ceremonies. "Is there any new buisness?"

A Faction Lord named Modren sat up and transmitted "I propose a new Supreme Leader be chosen!"

There was a roar of aproval. The chamber shook, Shagrat smiled to himself, Modren had always been one for getting to the point. Modren continued. "The Vedic Systems nominates Shagrat of the Usurpers!"

There was another thunder, with a hissing incoproated from the Caretakers. One of the Caretaker representitives, a pink carapaced female named Larel, stood up and quivered with rage.

"We will not follow such a madman! He would seize the manifolds for himself!"

"Honored Representitive, the nomination of Shagrat is on the table. A vote must be taken immediately."

Still quivering, Larel sat down.

"Cast your votes." the PO intoned.

"The Vote is....72 for, 14 againest. The Motion carries." The PO turned to Shagrat. "Command us, Supreme Leader."

There was a roar of dismay from the caretakers. for years they had been fighting againest reconveneing the Grand Council because the votes were binding, and they knew the Usurpers would be elevated to a position of command. Now, it had finally happen.

"Shagrat will lead us to ruin! He would be willing to destroy you all just to access a Manifold!" Larel shouted.

That's certainly true, Shagrat thought, but didn't transmitt. He spoke.


"Honored brothers and Sisters, thank you for having the faith to place our species in my hands. With our Race re-unified, we can restore our rightful place in the Cosmos! We can return to dominateing the Galaxy, and civilization the younger races! Too long we have searched for manifolds, when we know where one is! The Humans are insects to us, that shall be swept away! Godhood shall be Ours!!!"

The roar was deafening, A chant of "sha-grat! Sha-grat!" started, then died down.

Larel spoke again, "Oh yes! Seizing the Orion sector is such an easy means! There's only the little matter of the Sashianians being directly within our path from here to there...or perhaps you'd rather we fight a war with a supply route leading all over the Galaxy?"


There was some mmurmering of assent. Larel you fool, your day will come

"Honored Representitive, it is true that the Sashanians are stronger than any single Proginator faction, but we are united! We shall crush them and make them Thralls, make them the servitor race that they deserve to be. The Humans shall be the same! We shall be Gods!"

The Chamber was roaring again. And off to the side, behing Ptah, one of his servitors was fidgeting. He would have to pass this on the the Nautilus Pirates.

[GeneralTacticus]

Cadre Communications Centre, Laekdaemon Central

"Very well, gentlemen, as we are all here, let us begin. Dr. Mernok, you said you had something big to tell us."

At that, the officers and officials sitting around the meeting table leaned forward expectantly, and Mernok, head of the Cadre space program, stood and walked to the control panel for the holographic projector unit. After some fiddling with the controls, he turned toward the table and began to speak.

"Gentlemen, approximately two hours ago we received a transmission from our scout probe in the system currently designated Delta-323. After sending us some quite interesting data on the two inner planets in the system, it jumped into the outer system, to observe what appears to be a gas giant in the process of forming. While scanning it for research purposes, it detected this."

At that point, the doctor pressed a key on the control console, and an image shimmered into being in the centre of the table: an enhanced optical view of the object the probe had detected.

"Along with the report was a note that the probe would be moving further into the cloud to get a better look. Here's what it saw."

Mernok adjusted another control, and the image changed swiftly; evidently Mernok was speeding it up. It continued to show the object as the probe grew closer, and within a few minutes the probe was close enough to get a clear view. A collective gasp ran around the table as they got a good look at the ship, a long, stark black shape studded with weapons, landing bays, sensor arrays, and quite a lot of battle damage.

"Impressive, isn't it? the thing must be at least 12 kilometres long from end to end, and I'd wager it's even bigger than those new University ships we've been hearing rumours about, never mind anyone else's capships. We haven't had time to do a lot of analysis - the probe is doing that as we speak, and we've diverted another one to help it - but it's clearly in advance of our present technology, if not so spectacular as that of the University or the Protectorate.

"At first, we thought we had no records of this class of ship at al; our scout craft certainly carried none. However, after a lot of digging through our older ones, we found some Progenitor files we dug out of Spartan archives on Chiron and never had much use for until now. They mention a single ship of this time - a very old one, a thousand years at the very least - which belonged to some other, unnamed species from well outside Human Space.They don't say much, except that it was quite powerful a centrepiece for that race's fleet, and that it was lost during an engagement with an enemy they referred to as "the Destroyers". No information is given about this other species or force, either, leaving us with a lot of loose ends to chase down if we can.

"Anyway, we should have some more data within an hour or so; in the meantime, I'd like to request a significant diversion of forces to the area, so as to secure the ship and, hopefully, allow it to be converted for our use. Obviously, this would have to be kept secret, and it would detract from our fighting ability here, but if we can actually get control of that ship, we could end the war with ease. I call for a show of hands on this motion."

Every hand in the room went up immediately, and General Kane smiled.

"Motion carried. Mernok, do you have any other information about this ship?"

"None, sir."

"Then I want you to get to work planning the the expedition to hold the place. If any knew information comes through, tell us immediately. For now, get cracking."

[GeneralTacticus]

The Derelict

An unnamed star system, approximately 6 light years from Laekdaemon:

The Cadre scout probe slid silently across the void of space, a small, bulbous shape consisting almost entirely of fuel tanks, engines, sensor arrays, and a computer AI. It had been in this system for weeks now, scanning, catalouging, and transmitting reports back to Laekdaemon Prime; the recent wars there meant little to it, a thing created solely to gather information. Had it been human, the ship might have called what it did boring beyond belief; indeed, it most certainly would have. As it was, the very concept of boredom, or any kind of dissatisfaction, was simply beyond it's grasp. It had been made to explore, and that was what it did, every second of every day as long as it was out exploring.

Having completed a survey of the system's two vaguely earth-sized inner planets, and found them both useless for any purpose save research, their surfaces airless, volcanic, and pitted with cracks running all the way down to the mantles, the probe swung around in a long loop and engaged a small FTL drive, taking it to the enxt item of interest: a massive gas cloud in the outer reaches of the system, suspected to be a gas giant in the process of formation. Any data gathered there could give great insight into the processes involved, and that knowledge could be valuable.

A few minutes later, the probe dropped out of FTL speed and put itself into a long loop around the cloud, intending to make a complete circuit before moving through the centre of the cloud itself. As it did so, it fed all the information gathered by it's sensors back to Laekdaemon in real time, though the signal would not arrive for another 14 hours.

Some hours later - 3 hours and 47 minutes, to be precise - the probe's sensors detected something that flooded it with something approximating shock. A metallic, clearly artificial object of massive proportions was sitting close to the middle of the cloud, almost obscured from sensors. Moreover, it's profile did not match that of any known ship class or spacefaring species.

The probe's artificial brain 'thought' furiously for a few moments as it processed this new information, before arriving at a decision: whatever the value of planetary formation data, the potential value of some new technology or other data that could be gleaned from the ship far outweighed that. Sending a top-priority transmission to Leakdaemon, it fired thrusters to adjust it's path directly toward the object.

[GeneralTacticus]

New Management

Emergency Command Post, beneath Laekdaemon Central

"Menelas is dead."

The low hum of conversation among the gathered officers cut off as though slashed with a knife. The haggard-looking medical officer who had delivered the news cleared his throat, twice, before continuing hoarsely.

"We did our best to save him, but the wounds he suffered in the explosion were too great. He was pronounced dead a little over seven minutes ago, from massive fluid loss and shock. As we have not yet perfected our braintaping technology, we could not use that to save him. I hate to say it, ladies and gentlemen, but it seems we must choose a new leader."

The occupants of the room stared at one another. There were procedures, of course - far too many Cadre eladers had died unexpectedly for it to be otherwise - but no one had expected that they would have to be used now, after the Spartan threat was gone, in the midst of civil war. The silence dragged on, until someone spoke up.

"Very well, then. After that... ah... 'incident'... who are the highest-ranking officers left?"

There was some more silence, broken only by the sound of someone's fingers on a keyboard as they brought up the relevant data, before one of the officers spoke up.

"I believe that would Commander Michael Kane, currently in orbit organising patrols of the system. He will need to be informed of this, along with the rest of our forces, and we will need to begin planning for our retaliation..."

Now finally having something to do, the meeting picked up steam. Messages went out, information was called up, maps were plotted, and encoded notifications were sent out to the Spartan Federation and the Free Drone Republic.

[Sovereign]

PX-973 System

Several dozen Goa'uld gliders flew in a perfect formation, towards the heathen's fleet.

Flyer 743 flicked his communications channel on.

"Glider Group 88 leader to all gliders. Our savior, Ptah, has provided us with a target. Focus on the largest heathen ship in the middle of that line formation."

A chorus of "Kree!" signaled acknowledgement.

The squadron made a beeline towards the six-kilometer long ship that was apparently the heathen's flagship. However, several Jaffa started to notice something quite odd.

"Flyer 198 to Flyer 743. I don't see any heathen fighters at all."

"Perhaps they don't have any. This proves their stupidity and inferiority to the grace of Ptah."

The flagship loomed larger and larger. Flyer 743 opened his communication channel once again.

"Punish them in the name of Ptah!"

The gliders scattered, hitting various targets on the topside of the flagship. To the frustration of Flyer 743 and his squadron, the energy blasts seemed to have little or no effect, due to the sheer number of targets to destroy, as well as the seemingly endless expanse of metal.

"Flyer 334 to Flyer 743. The infidel Tauri are supposed to fall easily. What demons possessed the Tauri to create such gigantic ships?"

"I don't know. No matter. We must cleanse them, so they may welcome Ptah."

As Flyer 743 closed his communication channel, several hundred small anti-fighter batteries opened fire upon the Jaffa squad in a blinding display of light.

Some gliders had several parts simply vaporized or blown cleanly off, while several others simply ceased to exist in any definitive form.

"Keep cleansing them! Ptah will provide us with victory!"

"Flyer 198 to Flyer 743. Are you alive?"

"Indeed."

"I don't believe this. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"That looks like hellfire. May Ptah protect us!"

Several seconds later, the anti-fighter batteries opened fire again, but at a lower intensity compared to the previous salvo. The remaining gliders were either crippled or destroyed, leaving Flyer 743 the survivor.

A single barrel turret swiveled around, tracking Flyer 743 at its maximum range. If sounds could be heard through space, Flyer 743 would have heard a brief humming sound as the energy charged up inside the turret. Time seemed to slow down as a white globe of energy closed onto the remaining glider. All Flyer 743 saw before his world turned black was dozens of reddish hellfire beams slamming into the Goa'uld fleet.

--------------------------------------

Dozens of Yamato cannon beams tore the small Goa'uld Motherships apart. Their relatively minor shields could not sufficiently absorb terawatts upon terawatts of pure energy all at once. However, the Super-Motherships and the five unidentified ships withstood the energy assault with minor to moderate shield loss.

Likewise, the return Goa'uld fire was almost as devastating. Half of the remaining destroyers and cruisers were becoming expanding clouds of ice, metal, frozen flesh and blood, and energy.

Lianna was grinding her teeth.

"Cursed shielding!"

Yezprach kept his stony expression, despite Lianna's outburst.

"Lianna, there is always a way. If you have another outburst like that, consider yourself relieved of duty."

The communication console near Lianna beeped.

"Captain Mathias of the UAS Dragon to Grand Admiral Devlin Yezprach."

"Go ahead."

"Several of our fighters have breached the shielding of the nearest Super-Mothership and are assaulting its main guns."

"Thank you. That will be all."

The admiral walked to the opposite side of the floating holographic globe.

"Interesting. Shielding doesn't seem to deflect solid objects."

He turned towards Lianna.

"There is your answer. Inform the fleet to arm all of their Xaos missiles, and launch all fighters. If I am correct, the Goa'uld will have a rude surprise."

Several minutes later, a swarm erupted from the University fleet, seemingly like a swarm of very angry bees. Literally hundreds of missiles, along with several thousand fighters descended upon the Goa'uld super-ships.

The Goa'uld weren't equipped with missiles of their own, due to the fact that they favor their effective energy blasts. All the Goa'uld could do was attempt to shoot down as many of the missiles and fighters as possible. It didn't amount to much, thanks to the sheer numbers of projectiles being launched by the University.

As the first missiles slammed into the remaining Goa'uld ships, space ripped apart in a blue-white vortex, as three Titans roared out of the fissure. At nine kilometers, the largest class of Human ship to date, they cast an imposing shadow across the small Goa'uld Motherships. Each Titan had enough firepower and ordinance for a small fleet, and had heavier armor than the refit UAS Solaris. They were truly the flying fortresses of interstellar space.

"Admiral Antonio here. The UAS Athena, UAS Zeus, and UAS Apollo are ready for your instructions."

"Antonio, assist in attempting to capture these unidentified ships and the Super-Motherships."

"Roger that. My boys will get the job done, sir."

With the extreme firepower provided by the three Titans, as well as their massive missile and marine complements, the battle was a foregone conclusion.

---------------------------------------

Grand Admiral Devlin Yezprach reporting.

We have captured three additional Goa'uld Super-Motherships, as well as the one we captured prior to the reinforcements. We were able to capture one unidentified ship, since the others self destructed before we even got close. Apparently a missile hit an energy conduit or something to that effect, disabling the self-destruct of the single captured unidentified ship.

The Super-Motherships self-destructed, but it was the valor of our marines and several lucky shots by our fighters that prevented or slowed down the self-destruction of the ones we captured.

Also, several gliders were recovered, and the surviving Jaffa pilots were taken prisoner.

We have suffered considerable losses, losing two dozen destroyers, ten cruisers, and two battleships. Several ships were critically damaged, and will need to return to our territory for extensive repairs.

The Goa'uld's prime research and development world is now effectively in our hands. The only thing left to do is clean up the planetary ground forces, but they have no space support. We have space superiority.

Bombardment of several barrack complexes is now underway. As of this report, we have recovered several research files from the planet.

Within the next couple of weeks, we will have full control of the planet.

-----------------------------------------

The Academician smiled as he finished reading Yezprach's report.

Finally. New technologies.

[Sovereign]

PX-973 System

"Fighter Squadrons Eight and Fourteen, cover that damaged Einstein Battleship's flank!"

Grand Admiral Devlin Yezprach walked around the three dimensional battlemap situated in the bridge of the newly refit UAS Solaris.

Chief Tactical officer Lianna shouted to be heard over the shudders as the Solaris was taking fire from three Ha'tak Motherships.

"The Koenigsburg and Wales are reporting they are inflicting moderate damage upon the two remaining Super-Motherships. However, the two Terran Battlecruisers are taking heavy fire."

Yezprach took in that new information, and put it through the never-ending battle calculations going in inside his superior tactical mind.

"Divert twelve fighter squadrons to assist the Terran Battlecruisers."

Lianna looked slightly startled.

"Fighters? Against these two five kilometer monsters?"

"Yes. I want these Motherships intact. The Academician has standing orders to acquire any large Goa'uld ships by any means necessary."

"I know the General Order, but fighters? Wait a minute, you intend to distract most of the weapons with fighters, and have them tear up power conduits to the large cannons."

"Exactly."

Several brilliant explosions could be seen as several Ha'tak Motherships exploded under fire from three University Strike Cruisers and four Relativity class Battleships.

Lianna spoke up again.

"Four Ha'tak Motherships destroyed. Only five remain. Sir! One of our fighters reports a core build-up in one of the Super-Motherships. It looks like it's going to self-destruct."

"How's the other one?"

"Still firing, but our troop pods managed to get inside. It won't be lo-"

A huge fireball blossomed as the crippled Super-Mothership finally completed its self-destruction. The expanding debris obliterated several dozen fighters, as well as seriously damaging the Wales. Two University destroyers and a light cruiser were critically damaged as well, taking them out of the fight.

"Sir! The second Super-Mothership has a core build-up."

"Dammit."

"Hold on, sir. I'm now receiving updated telemetry. The core build-up seems to have reversed. I'm receiving a transmission from the ship."

"Admiral Yezprach, this is Marine Commander Stephen Policano. We have finally secured the Mothership, after considerable casualties. We have managed to capture several hundred Jaffa warriors, by stun and sleep gas."

"Excellent work, Commander."

"Thank you, sir. Policano out."

Yezprach breathed a sigh of relief. No doubt the Academician will be happy to acquire one of the Goa'uld's advanced and biggest warships.

"Finish off these remaining five Ha'tak Motherships."

"Yes, Sir."

"When are these new Titan class warships arriving?"

"Any minute now. This seems like overkill."

"We need these new warships to secure the captured Goa'uld planets."

"Understood. It looks like we fina- Holy hell!"

Yezprach arched an eyebrow.

"Swearing? You know Bridge conduct regulations."

"There are thirty Ha'tak Motherships, ten of these Super-Motherships, and five unidentified vessels approaching our position. Fast."

"Speak of the devil."

Yezprach studied the updated holographic battle sphere just for a moment. Then his face transformed into his infamous cold smile.

"We just might have a chance. Split the taskforce into three double-deep formations. Start charging up all our Yamato cannons on every ship that has one. The ships that doesn't have any, charge up all the main guns."

"Sir, I'm receiving an one-way transmission from the Titans."

"Put it on."

"This is Admiral Antonio Stravonich. My boys and I will arrive at your position in fifteen minutes."

Lianna barely restrained herself from grinding her teeth in frustration.

"Fifteen minutes is too long!"

"We will have to do with the time we are given. Signal the captured Mothership to make random hyper jumps around the system if possible."

"The fleet is ready to execute your orders."

"Execute."


The battleships seemed to retreat, flying backwards from the impending battle. Suddenly, the smaller ships sped up to maximum speed, trying to catch the battleships. The Goa'uld fired first, raking several ships with intense fire, destroying a couple of destroyers.

As the ships formed up, the tough neutronium armor on the University Alliance's ships kept taking a pounding, becoming scarred and scorched in multiple areas. But the armor held.

The Goa'uld decided to form the same pattern with their ships, as they believed they would do it better than the University, therefore humiliating the University.

"Lianna, fire."

[Sovereign]

Ptah's Homeworld

A large flying reptile, resembling an ancient Terran Pteradon, hissed as it flew up from its large rocky nest near a cave. The cave is one of the reptile's prized hunting grounds, since several native rodent creatures and the occasional dogget, a wolf-like creature with armored plating on its back and a tail with quills, seek refuge in the cave.

Today was different.

Today, the hunter is the hunted.

An energy blast smashed into the reptile's nest, scattering its eggs, small boulders, and some half eaten carrion. The reptile roared in anger, then swiftly flipped sideways as another blast whizzed past. The reptile felt the urge for vengeance, as it dived into the forest, hoping to mislead its attacker. The trees were rather large, with trunks measuring several meters across. The reptile weaved through the trees by flipping sideways when spaces got too tight for it to fly normally. After a while, realizing there were no blasts following it, it became confident that it lost the attacker. It shot up, then in a loop, trying to catch the hunter by surprise.

A blast erupted from seemingly nowhere and hit the reptile in its left wing. As it plummeted to the ground, another blast hit the reptile square in its chest.

The reptile was no more.

A second later, a sleek triangular ship with two wings burst up from the treetops. One man could be seen piloting the ship through its viewport. The man was wearing a few metallic pieces of clothing, as well as a staff with large elongated spheres at both ends stored back of his piloting seat.

A voice chimed inside the aircraft.

"Flyer 743, return to base and prepare to be evaluated on your aerial performance."

Flyer 743 swerved around in a sharp banking turn to its new heading, nearly opposite from its original direction. It tilted upwards just slightly, to clear the looming mountain. The scattered remains of the now non-existent reptile's nest could still be seen smoldering to the right of Flyer 743. Upon passing the snow capped summit of the jagged mountain, Flyer 743 could see several huge pyramid structures next to a river, and a shield generator complex at the other side of the river, opposite the pyramids.

Flyer 743 switched a button to signal subspace communication.

"Flyer 743 now approaching. Request clearance on Platform 5."

"Clearance granted."

The glider type aircraft dipped its nose, made several slight turns, then lined up with a landing strip rapidly growing visible. Flyer 743 didn't feel any excitement or fear, for he had done this more times than he could keep track of. His god did not want him to understand numbers. Numbers were meant for the First Primes, and Jaffa Officers.

Flyer 743 exited his glider upon a flawless landing. Failures were not an option, for punishment for any sin was terrible, slow, and painful. He marched to the center of the platform, and waited several minutes for the troop signal to activate. Several returning Jaffa flyers marched to Flyer 743's position, then shortly thereafter, they marched towards the pyramid in front of them in a formation.

Upon entering the pyramid, the formation kept marching through several golden plated corridors with hieroglyphics and cuneiform writing on the walls. A Jaffa with full body armor, a force pike, and a full-face helmet that resembles a cobra, stood at the end of the fifth hallway, and shouted to the approaching Jaffa formation.

"Halt! Kree!"

The formation stopped as one, and saluted.

"Kree!"

"Glider Group 88, report to the Officer at the end of the hallway to my left."

"Kree!"

The formation turned smartly to the left, and marched towards the officer. The officer wore similar garb to the cobra-hood guard at the intersection, except facial armor or a helmet. He was holding a datapad in his left hand, and the force pike in his right hand.

"I am both pleased and disappointed in your performance, Glider Group 88. All of you performed at standard levels of expectation, and your god is pleased. However, one of you did not destroy your intended training target quick enough. Battle requires lighting fast reflexes, and quick thinking. The longer you allow the enemy to live, the more likely he will be able to kill you."

The officer walked right up to the formation, raised his force pike, and ran it through the Jaffa pilot standing to Flyer 743's right.

"Failure in any combat situation is penalized by death. Your god, Ptah, does not tolerate cowards, or weak warriors."

The rest of the Jaffa troop still stood at attention, despite the death of one of its troops. The officer spoke again.

"Your next assignment is to support several of our new Motherships in their counter-attack against the infidel University Alliance's invasion of our research planet, PX-973. Return to your gliders and meet up with the fleet in orbit."

"Kree! It shall be done!"

"Kree! Go with Ptah."

The Jaffa troop quickly returned to their gliders, because they knew Ptah's wrath would be severe if they were too slow, as proved by the death of Flyer 226 at the officer's hands. They took off the landing strip, and then assembled a wedge formation with their gliders.

Several hours later, the assembled Goa'uld fleet, consisting of ten of the newest Motherships, thirty of the obsolete Ha'tak Motherships, and five Asgard / Fraal engineered ships departed for PX-973.

[Sovereign]

Unknown Location

In a nondescript gray metallic sideways corridor, a human hand reached out for a holo-panel set in a metallic wall. The fingers deftly touched the correct three dimensional sequence key codes required to raise another hidden holo-panel. However, another hand joined in the mid-air melee, adding its digits to the exquisite dancing on the second holo-panel. A click could be heard upon the shimmering holo-panel's dissipation back into its hidden position. The wall itself melted away as nanites opened a doorway for the unseen entity to enter a plain looking corridor. There were two slight differences, which were barely noticeable to the untrained eye. Along the entire length of the corridor, the middle of the walls were raised just a few millimeters above the upper and lower walls, while the fluorescent lighting was just a couple shades darker.

The unseen entity walked quickly down the corridor as the seemingly magical doorway sealed itself, creating the look of a standard sealed container. A holo-panel sprang up from the ground in the middle of the corridor, and the air dancing resumed on the holo-panel. The holo-panel faded just as quickly as it appeared.

After seventy-two heartbeats, the focus rotated 180 degrees, back towards the dead-end where the door sealed itself. Another click could be heard, as a holo-panel, identical to the one prior to the opening of the door, flared to life. The entity entered a key code, then did the same task over again as another hidden holo-panel, similar to the first hidden one, appeared. The doorway melted again, revealing a quite different area from where the entity entered the odd corridor. The doorway sealed itself again after the entity entered the new blue tinted corridor, which went in a straight direction from the doorway, rather than a sideways intersection like at the first corridor.

The entity reached the other end of the corridor, and underwent the exact same sequence of events, for the entire location required absolute and maximum security possible. Several corridors later, the entity arrived at an actual doorway. One can only wonder what secrets are held within the doors, for the doorways had interlacing armored neutronium plates fit for a battleship. As the doors opened, the entity had to walk four meters through the doorway, with two moderately armored and armed Mechanoid sentinels at both sides of the doorway. A disembodied voice droned after the doors grinded shut.

"Confirmed Identity at Checkpoint One."

Several minutes passed as the entity walked through the new area, with greenish tinted corridors now covered in basic armor plating set in a diamond pattern. The yet nameless and unknown entity reached a similar doorway to the one at Checkpoint One, with a major difference. There were four moderately armored and armed Mechanoids standing guard. The same artificial voice came out of nowhere.

"Confirmed Identity now entering restricted areas past Checkpoint Two."

The entity glanced at the wide new orange tinted corridors, covered in medium armor plating, with several diamond patterns overlapping each other.

The entity increased its walking speed, and after a short while, the final checkpoint known to it approached. This time, however, there were four heavily armored and armed Mechanoids guarding the doorway, as well as a Plato class hover-tank parked opposite the doorway. The doorway opened after a triple holo-panel within a holo-panel within a holo-panel code was entered. Two Plato tanks and eight heavily armored and armed Mechanoids were protecting the other side of the doorway. The corridor was in a gold tone, with battleship class interlaced heavy armor.

The entity chuckled.

Such fools! They underestimated us. We may not have the fleets or the firepower, but we have unparalleled subversion and spying abilities. We shall preserve, as we always have done so.

The chuckle faded as the entity's vision became dim within a few seconds. Another several seconds passed by and the entity fell to the ground. It didn't even have time to think or react.

Two men, clad in black uniforms with several objects attached to their belts. approached the now comatose spy.

"Phil, scan it for confirmation."

"Sir, the scan shows code green."

"Excellent. He fell for it. These creatures are so predictable."

"Sergei, you'd think they'd have learned their lesson a long time ago not to mess with us humans, or as they affectionately call us, the Tauri."

"Right. Deactivate code Alpha-Tango-Sigma-Alpha-Zeta-Zero-One-One."

The entire corridor, the Mechanoids, and the Plato tanks faded into white nothingness. The only remains of the whole base were the two men and the comatose spy.

A third man, in a black officer's uniform, entered the white void from a doorway that materialized on the opposite side of the comatose spy.

He approached the two men as the men picked up the spy.

"Status?"

"Good, sir. The holographics worked. The symbiote inside the spy is in a comatose state, ready for interrogation."

"Excellent. Bring the spy and its Goa'uld symbiote inside the true base. Prep the Bio-Genetics division for this one."

The two men snickered.

The officer arched an eyebrow.

"Pardon me?"

Phil stood at attention, as he replied.

"Sorry, sir. I find it funny that the Goa'uld, calling themselves gods and omniscient, fell for such a simple trap, as old as time itself. Dummy bases."

"Right. Carry on, men."


-----------------------------------------

Elsewhere, across the University Alliance's territory, all the Goa'uld spies were either captured, or fed false information. Little did the Goa'uld know that their own weapons would be used against them, due to the University Alliance's extensive security scanners and systems.

A report from the head of the University Alliance Intelligence Agency reached the Academician the next day.

11 Goa'uld symbiotes captured and are undergoing interrogation.

Thanks to new advances in scanning technology that you demanded two decades ago, not even the Goa'uld symbiotes or their brainwashed assassins are able to pass into University territory without us knowing about it.

The Jaffa Solution is nearing completion. Several issues are being resolved, but it will be finished within a month or two if things go well.

If everything goes as planned, the Goa'uld issue will be fixed permanently within the end of the year.

[Lonestar]

Summit, Part Two

The Go'auld System Lords Had, since the death of Anubis in the 21st century, been locked in an unending conflict, first with each other, than the Aeschen Confederation (the Aeschen being wiped out by the Go'auld Isten). What was once a galaxy spanning civilization had been eroded to a small corner of the cosmos.

By MY 2500, the God-Creator Ptah had rose to power, unifying the bickering warlords and eventually being elected as Supreme System Lord. Ptah was an almost exact replica of his mythical counterpart, an alien with starry eyes who was considered the master of craftmenship and technology, he did away with the construction of the archaic Ha'tak type motherships, concentrating on a diverse design of vessels, from the large ziggurat flagships that were made famous by Sokar, to backengineered Asgard-Fraal frigates. The Domain of the Go'auld remained small, however, with only a few hundred systems under their countral.

Ptah's policy of (relative)isolation allowed him to rebuild Go'auld power unhendered. And so, the Go'auld were one of only two non-Proginator races invitated to the Proginator Grand Council at Kelonawa. The other was the Hferhin Entire"

-The Proginator Conquest, Dr. Dirk Struan, MY 3200

[Lonestar]

Summit, Part One



Agony of the Mind
Ardena System
9kly from Earth



"Fleet-administrator, order the Freedomg Chastiser to interdict landing group 12" 1st Leader Shagrat transmitted to his aide. He leaned forward, his carapace shells clicking and overlapping each other. The other massive 30 km Star Dominator let loose a broadside with it's Sin cannons, 12 of the large landing ships blasted into nothingness before his fleet.

Judicator Shonash, you old Fool. If only you'd been more circumstant in planning your attack, I have you now. The Council will surely designate me Conquerer now!

And if not, well, I shall remedy that.

The Caretaker fleet was being hammered by the Capital ships of his own faction. Over 3,000 Caretaker Capital ships had been destroyed already, another 5,000 had been incapacitated. The last 1,000 vessels were being corraled by Shagrat's forces.

"First Leader, Judicator Shonash is trasnmitting. Perhaps she is surrendering?" The communicator's mandibles quivered with laugter at that, Shagrat copied and sent back the emotion.

"Let's see her then, shall we?"

The Viewscreen changed, Shonash's motted pink-gray face appeared.

"This is not over Shagrat, the Caretakers will not slacken by your one victory."

Shagrat chortled.

"No, perhaps not. But We have won several such battles in the last 5 cycles. You know as well as I do that the Caretakers' ascendance is over, with your fleet destroyed, we shall unite our people under one flag for the first time in eons."

Shonash was silent, then flared angriliy.

"The other Faction leaders will not bow willingly to you and you know it. In fact, it is probable that they will rush to our ai--"

With the grace of an extremely bored person, Shagrat lifted a finger, and pointed at Shonash's star dominator on the tactical screen. Within 3 seconds, the Usurper fleet had reduced it to stray atoms. The remains of the Caretaker fleet gave a faint whimper as Shagrat's forces cleaned them up.

The Fleet began the post-battle clean up, which to Shagrat was the most mundane part of being in the military. But it was worth it. Over 2,000 years of building up to, and now, finally, he was going to reach the epitome of Progenitor society. After 5 hours, the call came in.

The Comms underofficer clicked and turned to Shagrat. " The Supreme council has ordered you to report to Kelowna, the Progenitor Grand Council is being convened."

Shagrat chortled. Nothing could stop him now.

[Mr. President]

Keep on Knocking . . .

The Hiverian Fringe

There was a legend that went through the recruits at Space Marine academy every year. It ran something like this: once there was a young man from a tough inner-city suburb on Vega Prime. While on space-walk training, the maneuvering thrusters in his atmosphere suit failed and he drifted away from the transport. Thinking fast, he removed his backpack and hurled it away from his body, propelling himself towards a nearby fighter and demonstrating superbly the principle of conservation of momentum. Then he grabbed the small craft's wing, and the pilot maneuvered him back into the airlock.

Albert Franco knew it was true, because he had been that young man, so many years ago. At the time, he had found nothing frightening about the endless palpable darkness of space, even when he was hurtling around untethered and tossing Space Marine equipment into orbit. In fact, he had actually laughed about it with his platoon that night in the mess hall.

Franco wished he was clinging to the wing of a serendipitously positioned fighter craft right now. For right now, he was pacing the Liberty Bell's command center, doing everything possible not to look at the viewscreen showing the unknown territory of the Greater Hive Empire.

"How long has it been?" Franco asked.

"Fifty-five hours, twenty-three minutes, Commodore."

Franco scratched his chin. "Fifty-five hours and twenty-three minutes." He repeated the operation officer's words uneasily. At faster-than-light speeds, surely the Hive would have heard the President's message by now?

Time to make a decision. "Good. Send the order to all ships: Switch to offensive formation. Put all weapons systems on alert."

Commodore Franco watched the sensor readouts as his fleet scrambled into position. He observed the commanders execute the well-rehearsed procedure, forming out of forty ships a three-dimensional diamond with the Liberty Bell at the center. DRS Emancipator occupied the diamond's upper point, with DRS Righteousness at the bottom. The heavily-armed destroyers would saturate an attacking flotilla with fire from above and below, while the smaller cruisers and frigates, arranged in a square on the Liberty Bell's level, blocked the frontal assault. Three more destroyers were above Franco and three below him, to sweep up as necessary.

Briefly Franco wondered how much of the silence was deliberate. According to the Republic's national Datalinks, Emperor Yang was an expert in psychology. Surely he must have known how discomforting this situation was, even for a veteran like Franco; he must have realized that silence was the attacker's greatest weapon in space battle, since it forced the enemy to watch all sides at once and to make him nervous; he must have realized that a nervous enemy makes mistakes . . .

But then he banished those thoughts and got back to the business of setting up his battle. "Keep the engines primed," he ordered. "We might have to move fast."

[Sovereign]

Sol
Bastion Battlestation Alpha

Text and pictures flashed in midair, as the Academician browsed several holographic information displays.

The Academician was in one of his deep concentration trances, sitting at his famous maghony desk, reputed to be a little over a thousand years old, dating all the way back to the colonial era of Europe and the Americas in the 1600 - 1700's. Instead of tapping the holo panel floating above his table, he tapped an area on a floating hologram image.

Text materialized right above the desk, along with a representation of the quadrant of the galaxy that the Humans, Bree, and Gorn are located in.

The Academician tapped the Human sector, outlined in yellow on the Galaxy map.

The Human sector enlarged to include the known borders and areas of the existing Human Empires, Republics, and Nations. The University Alliance's color glowed a bright white, the Gaians glowed green, the Morganites glowed yellow, the Spartans glowed purple, the Hive glowed blue, the Believers glowed orange, the Free Drones glowed red, the Cybernetic Consciousness glowed blue-green, and the Protectorate glowed silver. The Unknown Regions glowed black, just to the Galactic West of the University territory.

The Academician expanded the view to include the University, Gaian, Cybernetic, and the Unknown territories. The University stretched from the Eden star system towards the jewel of Humanity, the recently acquired Sol system. The Gaians only occupied several planets between the Sol system and the University territories, while the Cybernetics occupied a solitary star system to the Galactic South of Sol. Several other star systems such as Tau Ceti, Concordia, as well as others sat between the University territories and the newly acquired Sol, Wolf, and Ross systems.

A tap.

The view panned to the regions to the north and west of the main University territory. The Believers occupied two star systems to the north of the University, presenting a thorn in its side. The western expanses were quite vast, blackness covering almost quadruple of the University Alliance's core territory.

As the Academician stroked his beard, the door chimed.

"Come in,"

Mina entered with a barely suppressed look of surprise.

"Academician, this crystal must be extremely important for it to be brought to me by twenty armed guards and ten Mechanoids. Why all the security?"

"Mina, hand me the crystal, then sit down and learn."

Mina gave the crystal to the Academician, who slowly and carefully inserted the crystal into the Data-Crystal Reader Device on his desk, as if he was afraid that the crystal would crumble.

"Initate Code Alpha-One Lockdown on all external connections from this room and the door."

Mina grew quite concerned, as the Alpha-One Lockdown was only used when extreme precautions are to be taken.

All tranmissions, standard and covert, were blocked from entering or leaving the Academician's office. All ventilation systems switched to "Self-Sustain" Mode within the office, while sound barriers were activated to block any hyper-sensitive eavesdropper devices.

"Mina, you will understand all the security requirements once you view the contents of this crystal."

Text materialized as before, but with the message flashing with a strobe-like effect.

[Code Omega Data Uploaded]

[Galactic Map Updated]

The black color of the Unexplored Regions dissipiated to be replaced by dozens of star systems in the western expanses just west of the University's holdings, as well as thirty new star systems to the south of the University Alliance's territory.

Mina simply gaped.

"All these systems."

"Only shall you begin to understand."

"These systems... all the natural resources to be tapped."

"Yes."

"How, what, where, when did you-"

"Patience. Time shall teach. You have seen only the beginning."

"I don't understand."

"Learn, you will."

The Academician gave his one of his engimatic smiles.

Mina sighed and sat down in the cushion chair opposite the Academician.

"Stargates."

Mina arched her eyebrows.

"The Stargates? The ones found on Earth?"

"Yes and no."

"I don't understand."

"Upon recovery of the Stargates on Earth, we discovered caches of information regarding other planets, and several engimatic races known as the Asgard, Nox, Tollan, and the Goa'uld."

"The only aliens we've ecountered or are aware of are the Bree, Gorn, Progenitors, Dosi, Uv Watt, and the Fraal."

"Incorrect."

"You consider the Al-Bhed, Ronso, and Guado on Spira aliens as well?"

"Correct."

"Okay, then why haven't we ecountered these other four alien races?"

"The sealed Stargate General Command's records dating to the late 1990's, over 700 years ago, that were found in Area 51 along with the Stargates, indicate several things."

"Such as?"

"The Asgard had a foe that they were at war with for an unknown length of time. The foe was known as the Replicators. They boarded a Tollan transport, gleaned the necessary information from the computer, and descended upon the Tollan homeworld. They didn't stand a chance, having no experience aganist the Replicators. The Stargate program on Earth only discovered this predicament from a distress signal sent from the Tollan homeworld. When the Nox decided to intervene, they were wiped out as well. The Asgard had to make an extremely difficult decision, seeing the Replicators grab footholds in our galaxy. They were forced to ally with the Goa'uld to beat back the Replicators, but at a terrible cost. The Asgard's homeworld was finally overrun, when the Asgard had to divert several dozen of their ships to the Goa'uld territory. The Replicators savaged the Goa'ulds terribly, leaving their fleets and worlds in ruins. However, the Stargate Team, headed by Colonel O'Neill and Samantha Carter finally devised an anti-replicator virus that spread through all the replicator networks, shutting them peramently. However, it wasn't enough to save the entirety of the Asgard and Goa'uld empires. That is why we have not heard from the Asgard or Goa'uld in the last 700 years. They had too much to rebuild, and scant resources to do so. The Stargate Program on Earth was closed down and locked away, after the threat from the Goa'uld became neligible, and the Asgards withdrew their support so they could focus on rebuilding their brutually decimated civilization."

"That must have been an epic battle. But there's no records of it."

"SGC was fully classified."

"But, what if Earth had been overrun?"

"That was the risk of the Stargate Program. Seeing no further threats or sources of support, Stargate was finally shut down in 2011."

"What does this have to do with all this new stuff?"

"This is one-half of the puzzle, my student."

"Puzzle?"

The Academician pointed towards several dozen star systems highlighted in yellow.

"These are Goa'uld worlds rebuilding their ravaged civilization. They pose no threat to the University."

"What of the Asgard?"

"On reports from Colonel O'Neill, the Asgard originated in another galaxy. They have no colonized worlds in our galaxy."

"What are these blue dots?"

"These worlds were discovered through the Stargate on Spira."

Mina's eyes widened.

"Spira?"

"Yes. You, our greatest scholars, and billions of the University's citizens probably have wondered how humans were living on Spira before we arrived there."

"Indeed."

"Our explorers have discovered at least four world similiar to Spira with millions of humans already living on it, through Spira's Stargate,"

"Four? Out of all these systems?"

The Academician shook his head.

"Incorrect. These systems were the first four discovered through the Stargate on Spira. We haven't proceeded further than that from our Spiran Stargate. We have already established colonies and begun converting these worlds to our standards and ways of life."

"Four whole systems colonized that no one else knew about?"

"It was necessary to keep our Stargate program top-secret, and we needed time to assilimate these worlds."

"What are these worlds or star systems named?"

"Gaia, Estharia, Cosma, and Mysidia. Apparently, Mysidia was the first of the five 'Spiran' type of worlds to be settled by humans. It is confirmed that a Goa'uld by the name of Bahamut brought and settled humans on these five worlds before his homeworld of operations was wiped out in one of the Goa'uld System Lord's squabbles several thousand years ago, around the time of the Hellenstic Era in Greece."

"Odd names. However, the Gaians will be tickled if they ever learn one of our star systems is named Gaia."

Another engimatic smile.

"But they won't know."

"What do you mean?"

"Plans are being drawn up to deal with them and the Cybernetics."

"You mean-"

Mina became shocked as the realization hit her like a freight train at full speed.

"Won't the other factions do something?"

"They will not. I have already prepared something to ensure that they won't interfere."

"I cannot believe what I'm hearing."

"You will understand."

The Academician jabbed his finger at another hologram floating near the Galactic Map.

The hologram expanded then split into several seperate displays.

One display showed a fleet of several hundred ships being assembled at the Nova Secundis system.

One display showed another fleet being formed in orbit of Zak Memoria VII.

One display showed a dozen Dreadnought class ships laying waste to a rebuilt Goa'uld world's defenses.

One display showed a colony being established on a planet, and the planet's name scrolled across the screen. "Exo IX"

One display showed a University administrator speaking with several white clothed people in a city made of crystal. The city's name scrolled by. "Esthar"

One display showed the Tau Ceti system being surveyed with several colony ships waiting in orbit.

The last of the displays showed several ultra-heavy armored University Plato class Hover-Tanks watching a street in a odd looking city. A sign in the background revealed the city name as "Midgar"

"Now do you see?"

Mina simply couldn't speak as the full picture revealed itself in her mind.

The Academician smiled once again.

"This is Project Phalanx, in its entirety."

Mina remained speechless.

"Go. Think upon and consider what you have learned."

Mina stood up slowly bearing the weight of the knowledge just gained. She gave the Academician the traditional University salute, by closing her fist and putting her fist on her chest, then bowing her head. As Mina left, the Academician deactivated the Alpha-One security lockdown protocols.

He cleared all the holograms with a simple tap on the shimmering holo-panel hovering over his desk. He decided to open the Protectorate's latest diplomatic message. He went over it several times, as well as looking over the attached files of his father. He refused to reveal his surprise and sadness, due to his belief that negative emotions shouldn't be displayed at all.

He began writing a reply, then paused. Several thoughts swirled in his mind, until he forced his mind into order, and then the Academician rewrote his reply. He went over his reply several times, until his response satisfied him.

------------------------------------------------

To Henry Pym

I have thought long and hard about the contents that you have sent me.

I would like to apologize for not acknowledging the destruction of the Michael earlier. We were under the impression that the Michael was a Believer ship, and you might be aware of our recent war with the Believers. The debris of the Michael was collected by a Sweeper ship, along with the bodies within the shattered ship. I would like to return the remains of the Michael along with the bodies inside. Hopefully this will aid in improving of our relations. Again, I apologize for the mis-identity of the ship.

I am prepared to grant full diplomatic relations, with establishment of embassies and opening of trade routes. I acknowledge that our relations are strained due to misunderstandings on both sides. It is my hope that the return of the Michael and opening up of higher levels of diplomacy will aid us both in improving our relations. Who knows, in the future, we could become good friends.

Henry, I appreciate your packets regarding my father, and I had no idea you knew him over 600 years ago. If he could see us now, leaders of our two nations. I would like to correspond with you as a fellow man, and hopefully in doing so, we can overcome the issues between us. After all, we're human beings and the universe is a dangerous place.

-------------------------------------------------

The Academician rubbed his eyes after hitting the 'Send' button.

I need to contact Emperor Yang. He could prove to be a good friend.

He opened a new message file, and spent a couple of hours working on it. By the time the Academician was done, his eyes were bloodshot and nearly drooping.

-------------------------------------------------

To Emperor Yang

How have you been faring lately?

I have recieved the gift.

I have instructed my diplomatic corps on Drone Mound to prepare to build an embassy complex there, upon your approval.

In addition, I would like to initate Lavender King.

It is my hope that we can build an even closer relationship.

Live well, Yang.

[Lonestar]

Hive Prime

Stoneham ran through the passageways, his heart pounding. He could sense the security forces behind him.

Damnit, is that true? Is his Excellancy dead? It's been so long since I've recieved word from Ubiqtorate.. But Stoneham knew that was for the success of the mission, and it had let him remain undetected for this long. But this information was far too important to wait for the usual channels. Because he had suddenly acted outside of usual routine, that had pegged him in the strictly controlled Hive society.

But he was nearly to the surface now. There, he could manually transmitt the entireity of the message.


Of course, he also knew he would die.

That was fine, the nanites in his bloodstream that mimicked the societal controls the Hive injected were already preparing to remove his long term memory as soon as he was dead. If Ubiqtorate could with draw memories from recently dead people, it was a sure bet the GHE's security forces could as well.

Ah, the room in question. He burst in, fireing his smuggled PPG at the Technicians. He ran over, and jabbed the slicer card containing the nanites into the CPU. Control over the transmitter was his in less than a second. He uploaded the information, it transmitted. His minor psi abilities picked up the Security Police storming into the room, he turned and fired his PPG, nailing one in the head. He felt the dozens of blaster bolts searing into him, the naites worked so fast in eradicating his longterm memory, he barely had time to think of his family....

-------------------

Cold Harbor
Edge of GHE

The massive battleship recieved and passed on the messgae to Ubiqtorate central. Within an hour Stoneham's family was alerted.

Within a day, the transmission was showed to most HUman nations.

[Frankychan]

Gemini I: Clone World
Deep in Hive space


Hive engineers and scientists scuttled to and fro, checking on various status switches. The Cloning Vats were running and peak efficiency and were pumping out hundreds of thousands of cloned individuals for the sole purpose of swelling the already bloated Hive military. Individuals were led from their cloning vat to be hooked up to neuro-receptors.

There, they would be force fed data spanning a lifetime in only a few minutes. There would be no trying to hide the fact that they were cloned. All were treated with the indoctrination and subtle neurochemicals that would make them loyal Hive citizens to the death. No thoughts of dissention, no questioning the Emperor, no thoughts of betrayal. In essence, they would be the ideal Hive citizen.

Gemini I’s world had numerous cloning “cities” that were all performing the same function. Extract individuals from the cloning vat, indoctrinate and treat them for incorporation into Hive society, and begin the physical training to complete the cloning process. However, each city was in charge of producing a certain type of clone citizen. Some cities were in charge of producing cloned technicians, others for fighter-pilots, and still others for assault soldiers. Each city’s training center focused on what the clones task were specified for.

Gemini I’s “fighter pilot” city had extensive VR and physical endurance tranining to make sure that they would be the top dogfighters the Hive had. Clones were strapped into simulators to test their bodies under g-force pressure. Sharp turns in space at high speeds still produced g-force and each pilot was tested to make sure that its resistance was at optimum. Pilots who were killed were immediately thrown into the recycling tanks.

Clones in the planetary assault “city” were trained in physical hand-to-hand combat as well as marksmanship. Huge caverns were used as training grounds were clones had to run with full equipment over the rocky terrain. Huge target ranges tested the accuracy of the soldiers marksmanship. There were even extensive VR training modules to test combat vehicle personnel. Those that were not able to make the requirements were thrown into the recycling tanks.

Technicians in their respected city were trained in their various tasks, from repairing faulty equipment to manning commstations. Any who did not meet their requirements were, too, disposed of and recycled.

Hundreds of worlds across the Hive Empire were performing the same function of Gemini I, the mass production of millions of clones to live, fight and die for the Hive...for the Emperor. These clones, as well as the already enormous population of non-cloned citizens, would swell the ranks of the Hive military.

Sheng-ji Yang’s dream of the ideal Hive citizen was becoming a reality; Obedient, Fearless, Competent and most important, utterly Loyal to the Hive.